jgscott

As I mentioned in a previous thread I ordered a new type of header for my 01 CLS auto trans. Last night I installed myself and here's how it went.
I used new Acura Factory gaskets instead of the aftermarket gaskets that came with the new headers. The front headers slid right on. When I went to place the rear header on, the bolts did not line up. The header needed some enlargement of the holes which I expected from reading previous installs of other's aftermarket non CT headers. This did not take long and was not very hard to do. After doing this I ran into a problem that I did not expect. The rear header extended down and ended directly into the drive axle shaft. There was no way the the down pipe was going to connect to the header with the drive axle directly in the way. After trying to figure out why, I discover a possible mistake made by Alpha Werks. If you review the pics I posted on the other thread the header sitting on the box has a Alpha Werks engraved name plate on the center tube. When I installed I assumed that this was the front header because you cannot see the rear header very well if at all and it made sense to me that the nameplate was for the front to be seen. Well I switched the front and rear around and found that I had them installed backwards.
With them now installed corrrectly the downpipe bolted on without any problems and I tigthen and checked everything out. After rechecking all fitting and nuts and bolts I started the car to check for leaks and there were none. I also was possibly expecting the Check engine light to come on but it did not and I was very glad. Other than the hole enlargement and mix up of front and rear it all went very smoothly. The total time to install was about 3 hours and this includes the reverse install of front and rear.
There is no unpleasent noise and the car sounds great with my Neuspeed Cat Back system.
It snowed here last night and I drove the car back home about 20miles from where I was. I did not have a lot of time to tell a diffrence yet but did notice that the car pulled a lot stronger in the 6000RPM range and seems to keep pulling. The responce is quicker and at the V Tec engagement it spun so fast in SS automode I twice hit the limiter in 2nd gear before I could change. I've not done that too much before recently and I did it 2 times last night. I hate when that happens.
The current engine mods to my car are Injen I/T, Alpha Werks Headers, Neuspeed Cat back exhaust. I plan to Dyno the car on SAT. Anybody know what the average Dyno Jet read has been for the CLS auto with I/H/ and Cat Back have been ?
I next plan to get a high flow Cat Converter, Crank Pulley UniChip, and the ZEX dry Nitrious kit. Will post Dyno Results and graph soon. I am very happy with my new header and have spent less than $1000 on all 3 engine Mods so far. My objective is $0 install cost by self installs and a very low dollar to HP cost ratio. I would give the Alpha Werks a good rating above all as a C/T cost alternative.

Jamie

kHmER Co

lets see the hp wars.

which clone will produce more

Nashua_Night_Hawk

you should have done a before dyno too!. How come you can judge gains otherwise?

Ray Khan

I assume since you made no reference to it, the 02 sensor bung was located in a good place. The OBx one puts the sensor almost right up against the tranny.

car_lost

how much did they cost? is alpha workks a reputable company?

jgscott

Did not have that problem, it had good clearence for 02 sensor. Also did not know that about OBX.

jgscott

He listed at WEB site for $425. Will price better if you call. I purchased them for a discount test price. I'm happy with my Header. Only time will tell about long term wear. They also sell suspenion parts called Zenn. http://www.nexusindustry.com/index.html

proaudio22

Are these those headers that look really well made but have that whack J-pipe? By whack I mean the tube that comes from the rear header hits the other at a 90deg angle?

If so, I don't these will dyno as high as the Stone/OBX (of couse the Comptech too hehe).

jgscott

Why don't you check it out and answer your "whack" question. I am not promoting, or selling anything, just sharing info of somethings I am trying.. http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=131913

jgscott

I think to accurately judge I would personally ( my opinion) do stock, no I/ no Cat B,. 1st run stock CLS, 2nd run with Header. Prev experience is that sometimes combo of diff mods not good judge. I Agree that would tell before and after diffrence on my set up and car but not if C/T more power, Stone more power, Alpha Werks more power. 1 header may like C/T intake better, other may like Injen intake, other AEM and so on. I also have a diffrent Cat back than most. If this headers showed higher H/P increase than other that would not mean it was that header that was better, just combo. Maybe somone will order and do for you to see. Or get group to meet at Dyno and run 1 car and test all headers back to back.
Just my opinion from 200+ dyno runs on a built Kawi zx-9 I had.

chef chris

So, basically, we don't know a thing about these other than they are easily installed(versus some other brands folks have had issues with).

Still interested in seeing the dyno with the other mods...most guys here have intake atleast, so it's still plenty useful.

jgscott

I am going to Dyno and post graph.

proaudio22

Hey man, no need to get upset. These are not the ones I was talking about. If you had seem them, you'd know exactly what I was talking about and would prob make the same comment. These look just fine.

jgscott

Thought you could look at PICS and tell. Peace.

Chopsie

Mine Do not.

scalbert

Since the design is a Comptech copy, I would expect the gains to be similar to Comptech's and the other clones. It is not like they are internally coated or have some unsual charateristic to make them perform better. They are just pipes in a certain design and as such will provide similar gains..

The difference may be in the quality compared to the other clones.; that will need to be seen. I seen no need for a before and after...

Ray Khan

well either you are lucky, or Ferizzo is unlucky. We had to drill out the back side header bolt holes a little on his as well. The O2 sensor was close enough to the tranny that the dealer bitched about it when he had his tranny replaced. They even said something like the wires to the 02 looked like they were fraying a little and wouldn't be covered under warranty because of the aftermarket headers. To me this is some bs excusefor the dealer since they probably bumped something in the tranny install/uninstall. Who knows. Good to hear your headers fit well.

jgscott

Well this is a diffrent Header. I don't know why a copy would not copy the O2 sen placement as well. Come to think of it tho the OBX header is actually the Honda Accord V6 Header, so is this one. I read somewhere here someone mention the port sizes, and they are smaller. I ground mine open and smoothed them because they were just a little smaller than the Acura Gasket. I always wondered if the Stones were the same.

jgscott

Funny how some have problem some do not with same header make and same type car. Guess quality control not so good with hand made produts sometimes.